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Cytokines in Cancer Immunotherapy

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Systems and Synthetic Immunology

Abstract

Cytokines are effector molecules of the immune system that act as messengers for cell to cell communications. Cytokines play an indispensable role in immune regulation and are involved in cell proliferation, cell death, inflammation, tissue repair, and cellular homeostasis. In recent years, with the advent of modern innovative technologies, our understanding of the immune system has expanded significantly. This increased understanding about our immune system has enabled us to target several immune mediators, including cytokines, in different diseases, ranging from autoimmunity to cancers. Recent success in the development of checkpoint blockade immunotherapies, targeting PD1 and CTLA-4, in treatment of cancers has revolutionized cancer treatment and sparked renewed interest among cancer immunologists for the discovery of new potential targets. Despite significant success, the response rate with checkpoint blockade therapies still remains limited to a fraction of patients and is often associated with several life-threatening side effects. Therefore, heightened efforts are being made to develop new and better therapies or improve current therapies for cancer treatment. Because of their pleiotropic effects on immune cells and their role in immune activation, cytokines have emerged as potential candidates for cancer immunotherapy and hold a central stage in this whole process of cancer immunotherapeutics. This chapter discusses about the major cytokines involved in cancer immunotherapy and their targeting strategies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Raki Sudan

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Correspondence to Raki Sudan .

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  1. National Centre for Cell Science, Pune, Maharashtra, India

    Shailza Singh

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Sudan, R. (2020). Cytokines in Cancer Immunotherapy. In: Singh, S. (eds) Systems and Synthetic Immunology . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3350-1_10

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